SILER CITY — Tiana Brooks and Chloey Johnson took top prizes at the 2021 JM Spring Art Show, a juried event held on May 26 at Jordan-Matthews High School.
Work from about 90 artists from across the academic community was on display during a show usually held over a full week in downtown Siler City. But because of pandemic complications, this year’s show was moved to one night in the high school media center.
Tiana Brooks received the $100 first prize for “Say Their Names,” a mixed media work. The piece also was one of only 35 student works statewide selected to exhibit at The 2021 Emerging Artists Invitational, an annual exhibition for high school artists sponsored by the Sechrest Gallery of Art and the High Point University School of Art and Design.
Chloey Johnson received the $50 second prize for her untitled acrylic and wax series of six works.
Four other artists were recognized for honorable mention. They were Carlin Brown for “Galactic Cruise,” an acrylic painting; Anna Brooke Fuller for “Tic-Tac-No,” an acrylic painting; Linda Ocampo for “Man with Cello,” a mixed media collage; and Isabella Palacios for “Bubbles,” an acrylic painting.
Local artists Barbara Hengstenberg and Bronwyn Watson, who returned as judges this year, were impressed with the art, which included works from several classes — Art 4 Honors, Art 3 Honors, Art 2, Art 1 and Basic Life Skills.
“After this past year, we are amazed to find such introspective and expressive works of art here at JM,” Hengstenberg said. “We have high regard for all of the artists and their teacher.”
Rahkie Mateen-Mason, the art teacher at Jordan-Matthews, said this year’s show reflected a wide range of topics. This unusual semester in the pandemic focused on “choice-based” art — a direction that allowed students to develop their own projects after instruction in media and methods. “That meant they had a lot of freedom, but also a lot of responsibility,” she said. “I’m proud so many of them followed through with their plans.”
Photos of many works from the 2021 JM Spring Art Show are available in an album on the JMArts Facebook page at facebook.com/jmhsarts.